It's been a couple of weeks since my last update on the printer. Since my last update, I have received my aluminum brackets and replaced all of the original acrylic parts with their aluminum counter parts. The build is much sturdier than before. However, I have found that it is harder to get the bed manually leveled due to the rigidness of the frame. I'm in the process of getting a BL Touch sensor installed to allow for a less strict leveled bed. This should improve print quality and not require me to level the bed anymore. Previously with the acrylic parts, I could get away with less of a leveled bed and get high quality prints.

I've been trying to print pieces for my electronics enclosure, but the prints keep failing due to the large surface area and the bed not being perfectly level. Most of the time, the print would be fine until close to the end and then there would be some layer shifting that ruins the print. This is unfortunate because the part I'm trying to print takes 6-7 hours to print and most of the time I've set it to print over night. When I come back to the print in the morning, I find that the print has failed. I'm fairly confident that installing the BL Touch sensor should fix most of these issues.

I'm currently working through which version of the community firmware to install on my printer. I have Jim Brown's Easy Config based on Marlin 1.1, but for some reason, the BL Touch doesn't appear to work correctly for the Z-endstop and when I do the auto home mechanism, the print nozzle crashes into the bed. I'm going to try a few other firmware configurations available from the Facebook group. There are a few guides referring to the BL Touch and specific firmware releases. I'm fairly certain the BL Touch is not at fault because when I power on the printer, it deploys/retracts the sensor a few times. I expect that it's a firmware configuration issue and I should be able to get it working in the next few days.

I have a seconds Z-axis rod/motor kit coming from Tevo in the next couple of weeks. That should help with Z-axis stability and print quality. Most people say this is not necessary, but I don't think it will hurt. Once I have the BL Touch installed, I will do some before/after comparison prints with/without the dual Z-axis kit. I've also ordered a large bed sticker from Tevo to apply to a large bed that I will purchase from Amazon. I'm attempting to stay as stock as possible, but the kits from Tevo tend to be a bit more expensive and they take longer to ship from overseas than from a seller in the US. Eventually, I want to get a dual extruder upgrade, but I'm not sure if I will go with Tevo or source the parts separately from Amazon. I found a dual extruder kit on Amazon that is roughly half the price of Tevo's, but I would need to get a second extruder motor and part assembly. Because of the price of the individual components, it might just make more sense to get Tevo's kit. I'm mainly interested in printing complex models using PVA (water soluble) for supports and PLA/ABS/PETG for the model.

I will continue to post updates on the print quality and upgrades soon!